Advice for pregnant people is really bad. The advice is so risk-averse that it generally doesn’t clearly distinguish between “this is moderately risky,” “this is a very small risk,” and “we have not conclusively proven that a risk does not exist,” which means that there are far more pieces of advice than anyone can remember and people quite often end up doing moderately risky things. The FDA continues to recommend limiting fish consumption in spite of the epidemiological evidence that eating fish increases IQ. Cleaning litter boxes is actually a very uncommon way of transmitting toxoplasmosis; it is most likely to come from undercooked meat. Even though gaining too much in pregnancy is only twice as common as gaining too little, and gaining too little has far more serious health consequences, the vast majority of the messaging is about the dangers of gaining too much.
An odd example of civilizational adequacy and inadequacy at the same time: food fortification has made folic acid deficiency one of the least common nutritional deficiencies, but pregnant people are still advised to take a folic acid supplement, even though they are almost certainly not deficient. (I suppose the idea is that extra folic acid is harmless.)
An odd example of civilizational adequacy and inadequacy at the same time: food fortification has made folic acid deficiency one of the least common nutritional deficiencies, but pregnant people are still advised to take a folic acid supplement, even though they are almost certainly not deficient. (I suppose the idea is that extra folic acid is harmless.)
This is not quite right. Food fortification tends to be somewhat limited in intensity by the fact that many people getting the extra folate aren’t pregnant and an excess amount might be bad for them. But normal levels of folate may not be enough to minimize neural tube defects.
The actual wrong thing about this advice is that the supplements are only really useful in preventing birth defects around the time of conception—so by the time you know you’re pregnant, it’s not likely to make much of a difference.
Advice for pregnant people is really bad. The advice is so risk-averse that it generally doesn’t clearly distinguish between “this is moderately risky,” “this is a very small risk,” and “we have not conclusively proven that a risk does not exist,” which means that there are far more pieces of advice than anyone can remember and people quite often end up doing moderately risky things. The FDA continues to recommend limiting fish consumption in spite of the epidemiological evidence that eating fish increases IQ. Cleaning litter boxes is actually a very uncommon way of transmitting toxoplasmosis; it is most likely to come from undercooked meat. Even though gaining too much in pregnancy is only twice as common as gaining too little, and gaining too little has far more serious health consequences, the vast majority of the messaging is about the dangers of gaining too much.
An odd example of civilizational adequacy and inadequacy at the same time: food fortification has made folic acid deficiency one of the least common nutritional deficiencies, but pregnant people are still advised to take a folic acid supplement, even though they are almost certainly not deficient. (I suppose the idea is that extra folic acid is harmless.)
Do you know of any good sources for pregnancy advice?
I personally very much enjoyed Expecting Better, Debunking the Bump, the Informed Parent, and the Science of Mom.
Advice regarding the health issues of new mothers is even more lacking. Whoa Baby by Kelly Rowland and Tristan Bickman is a book I liked on the topic.
Another book for new parents, about relationships, that I liked: And Baby Makes Three by John Gottman and Julie Schwartz Gottman.
This is not quite right. Food fortification tends to be somewhat limited in intensity by the fact that many people getting the extra folate aren’t pregnant and an excess amount might be bad for them. But normal levels of folate may not be enough to minimize neural tube defects.
The actual wrong thing about this advice is that the supplements are only really useful in preventing birth defects around the time of conception—so by the time you know you’re pregnant, it’s not likely to make much of a difference.
“Even though gaining too much in pregnancy” is missing the word “weight” I think.